Travis
Travis was the Federation officer charged with hunting down Roj Blake and his followers and capturing the Liberator. He was a relentless opponent and skilled and patient strategist. History Early career . ]] Travis was a career officer in the Federation military, holding the rank of Space Commander. His service number was given at his trial as Alpha 15105. He first encountered Blake during his initial period with the rebellion, laying an ambush for him. Blake shot Travis on this occasion, leaving him with a distinctive bionic implant replacing his left eye and the surrounding area. This was possibly also the occasion in which Travis lost his lower left arm, which was similarly replaced by a prosthetic. The new arm also carried a lazeron destroyer. At the time of Blake's second rebellion and escape from Federation custody Travis had been suspended from duty and was awaiting court martial for the massacre of civilians on the planet Auros. Servalan's mission Following Blake's raid on Centero, the Federation council ordered a dedicated task force be assigned to stopping him. Travis accepted Servalan's mission with relish, laying a series of traps for Blake and the Liberator. None of them were successful, however, and Blake had the opportunity to kill Travis on several occasions, althought he refused to on the grounds that the Federation might replace him with somebody competent. Following the failure of Project Avalon, Servalan took a much closer interest in Travis' activities, accompanying him in the field and using him as "muscle" in some of her more devious activities. These met with no greater success than his initial operations had. After the failure to capture Blake during his attack on Earth's Computer Control, Servalan abandoned Travis, making him the sole scapegoat for this and other failed operations and reinstating the court martial proceedings against him (in part to prevent him from testifying against her in an upcoming enquiry). Court Martial ]] Travis was court-martialled for ordering the massacre of civilians on the planet Zircaster. The trial was interrupted by an attack by the Liberator, and Travis took his chance and escaped. He and Servalan made a deal where she would have him declared dead (and thus free from pursuit) if he helped her eliminate Blake. He made a few more attempts to kill Blake and capture the Liberator, even boarding the vessel while disguised as the rebel leader Shivan at one point, but all of these plots also failed in the end. A Traitor to his Race By now slightly deranged, Travis finally made a deal with the invading Andromedan aliens - he would lead them to Star One, the control centre for the minefield protecting the Federation from extra-galactic attack. Travis kept his part of the deal and received an unexpected bonus when Blake also arrived - Travis shot and badly injured him. However, Blake was not dead and shot Travis after only part of the minefield had been deactivated. The injured Travis was shot again by Avon and plunged into a close-by shaft where he died a spectacular death. Personality Travis was described as 'psychotic' by Rontane. While highly intelligent, at least to begin with, his obsession with Blake approached monomania in its intensity. His mental condition seemed to degenerate as time went by - the ruthless but patient strategist of his early career gradually being replaced by an unstable brute. His defeat by the Liberator crew on Aristo was perhaps a turning point, as after this he required drastic psychotherapy. Afterwards, he became significantly less calculating and proportionally more aggressive. Carnell noted his state of mind and told Servalan that he was "more dangerous than ever". A more drastic turn occurred after he was brought up on massacre charges again after his failure to kill Blake at the old Federation Control facility on Earth. His guilty verdict and subsequent denouncement by respected military officials in Space Command not only marked the end of his career as an officer but also any positive ties he or the Federation mutually had for each other, and the hypocritical attitude (in his opinion) of the Federation may have contributed to his actions at Star One later on. Towards the end of his life his loathing of the Federation seemed to extend to the rest of humanity in general as he willingly helped plan its subjugation (and possible extermination). He seemed keen to have his part in the invasion well-known, his one regret about his collaboration being that humanity would "never know who really killed them". Relationships According to Blake, Travis had no friends and was generally contemptuous to most around him. On the other hand, he seemed shocked and angered to learn of the death of Maryatt, the medic who had saved his life, as a result of Servalan's machinations to acquire Orac. When he learned that Maryatt would be listed as a deserter and that his family would be enslaved in turn, he began to protest but dropped it after Servalan began to push back, concerned that she might prevent him from hunting Blake. He also seemed interested exploring Kiera's background with her and was somewhat disappointed when she expressed no interest in her pre-Mutoid life. He generally held the respect of the men under his command and, while he generally expected losses in any military operation, was generally protective of them in battle. On the other hand, he was less positively inclined to Mutoids; while he stated he preferred the company of the Mutoids given his bionics, he ultimately regarded them as expendable (at least when it came to his quest to kill Blake). His relationship with Servalan was complicated. He certainly respected her for her ruthlessness and her position in the military, but they frequently butted heads when it came to capturing Blake. While he was primarily interested in hunting and killing Blake by any means possible, frequently her interest in acquiring advanced technology for her own use (Liberator and Orac in particular, also Coser's weapon IMIPAK) conflicted with his own goals and tactics. In his last known face-to-face meeting with Servalan before departing to Star One, he offered to rule the galaxy with her using Star One as their means of control. She quickly shot this line of conversation down, however. Given subsequent events, how genuine this offer was is up for debate. His hatred for Blake was obsessional and only fueled by the various defeats Blake inflicted on him over the course of the series. His interest in the rest of the Liberator crew was less intense, and he was capable of relatively rational discourse with the likes of Avon or Cally. Also, while he received come catharsis from gunning down a clone of Blake shortly before chasing Coser, he also recognized that the clones were ultimately not Blake. When the second Blake clone defeated Servalan's plan to acquire IMIPAK, he calmly congratulated him on his success, while his commentary to Servalan on her plan at the same time was rather more snarky. Behind the scenes In Brian Croucher's first appearance as Travis, his change in appearance and personality was not directly addressed, nor was it mentioned at any time after. In that initial episode, there was a line by Travis regarding his recent "visits to the retraining therapists" and that he was disoriented by them. It might be assumed that along with psychotherapy, his retraining may have included a new face, voice, and diction. In Travis' first appearance, it was established that medical technology had the ability to restore his face and missing eye but he chose not to do so, explaining to Servalan "I'm a field officer, not one of your decorative staff men." Category:Terran Federation individuals